Attendance last night

CalallenStang · Post by **CalallenStang** » Thu Feb 05, 2009 10:52 am

5,056 - per ESPN

Only 5000? Didn't we have around 7500 for the Memphis game last year? What about 2 years ago?

smupony94 · Post by **smupony94** » Thu Feb 05, 2009 10:58 am

They should have counted me sitting on my couch eating popcorn

NastyStang · Post by **NastyStang** » Thu Feb 05, 2009 11:58 am

Sounds about right, last year we arrived at the memphis game about 20 mins early and people were already filling the very top rows all the way around the arena. Absolutely less people this time, but the pro-SMU crowd was much better...

PoconoPony · Post by **PoconoPony** » Thu Feb 05, 2009 2:57 pm

We picked the wrong color with the red out theme. Should have picked blue out so the fans could not be distinguished from the empty seats.

Pony_Fan · Post by **Pony_Fan** » Thu Feb 05, 2009 3:09 pm

Memphis was ranked #1 or #2 last year right? Makes a difference to the casual fan.

regis · Post by **regis** » Thu Feb 05, 2009 3:10 pm

Last year, memphis was #1 in the nation, undefeated and a clear favorite for the Final Four. Plus, it was the last day of the season. Add it all up, there was a lot more interest from the college basketball fan.

Still, a good crowd last night. It was as loud as I can remember in a long long time. Maybe since the Tulsa 2OT game.

Longtime · Post by **Longtime** » Thu Feb 05, 2009 3:19 pm

Don't schedule your biggest game of the year when the Mavs are also playing across town. And if you can help it, don't play it on a weeknight.

You can't always say the Mavs affect our attendance, but for a team with the reputation of Memphis, you bet a few folks probably were at AAC that would have been at Moody otherwise.

cguru · Post by **cguru** » Thu Feb 05, 2009 6:29 pm

i don't think SMU schedules conference games. CUSA usually does that for them. so they have no control over if they are playing the same night as the Mavs.

CalallenStang · Post by **CalallenStang** » Thu Feb 05, 2009 9:25 pm

cguru wrote:i don't think SMU schedules conference games. CUSA usually does that for them. so they have no control over if they are playing the same night as the Mavs.

You are right but SMU can submit requests to the conference with dates that they would rather play a road game than a home game. Then it's up to the conference to honor those requests. I am pretty sure that Memphis does this to avoid conflict with Grizzlies games (since they use the same arena). Tulane might as well (avoids conflict with Hornets games)...UCF might do it to avoid conflict with Magic games.

cguru · Post by **cguru** » Thu Feb 05, 2009 10:19 pm

so by submitting a request, the conference is just going to change the date? highly unlikely, considering they don't share the same facility, unlike your Memphis example.

CalallenStang · Post by **CalallenStang** » Thu Feb 05, 2009 10:25 pm

cguru wrote:so by submitting a request, the conference is just going to change the date? highly unlikely, considering they don't share the same facility, unlike your Memphis example.

As I said, it's up to the conference whether or not they will honor the requests. However, submitting a request can't hurt.

cguru · Post by **cguru** » Thu Feb 05, 2009 10:38 pm

i don't think the conference really cares about when the pro team plays as compared to the collegiate team. besides, isn't this another cop out for smu fans in the whole "the ncaa hates us" attitude? for the most part smu has fair weather fans and will never attend games until the team starts winning. as always, there are exceptions, but for the most part everyone remembers the old days and doesn't care about what's going on now, and won't until they start winning.

RE Tycoon · Post by **RE Tycoon** » Thu Feb 05, 2009 10:55 pm

I don't know if schools can submit a preferred schedule or not, but it's dumb to say CUSA doesn't care if they are scheduled opposite a NBA game.

They most certainly care (or should if they don't) b/c we are CUSA, not ACC, so it's not exactly a hot ticket, even with one of the best teams in the country as evidenced last night.

cguru · Post by **cguru** » Thu Feb 05, 2009 11:06 pm

the conference works hard at making schedules. don't really think that after all that hard work they want to make changes just so a particular school can have a game by themselves.

it's up to SMU to make do with the situation presented, sometimes good, sometimes bad. what was the excuse when both SMU and the Mavs weren't winning? that wasn't too long ago, btw. too many people still following the Cowboys after their season was over?

CalallenStang · Post by **CalallenStang** » Thu Feb 05, 2009 11:10 pm

RE Tycoon wrote:I don't know if schools can submit a preferred schedule or not, but it's dumb to say CUSA doesn't care if they are scheduled opposite a NBA game.

They most certainly care (or should if they don't) b/c we are CUSA, not ACC, so it's not exactly a hot ticket, even with one of the best teams in the country as evidenced last night.

And if they don't care about the welfare of every program in the conference, then CUSA is not worth being in.